Shawn Hernandez
|birth_place = Houston, Texas |death_date = |death_place = |billed = Houston, Texas |resides = |trainer = Tugboat Taylor Texas Wrestling Academy Rudy Boy Gonzalez Shawn Michaels |debut = November 1996 |retired = }} Shawn Hernandez (born February 11, 1973) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Hernandez. Hernandez is best known for his work with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is a seven-time former world tag team champion, having held the TNA World Tag Team Championship five times, the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice and the IWA World Tag Team Championship once. Hernandez is also the co-promoter of the Houston, Texas-based promotion Latino Wrestling Entertainment (LWE). Professional wrestling career Training and early career Following the end of his Arena Football career, Hernandez trained under Tugboat Taylor and later under Rudy Boy Gonzalez in the Texas Wrestling Academy. He debuted in Texas All-Star Wrestling in November 1996. In 2000 and 2001 Hernandez worked for the World Wrestling Federation as a jobber, appearing on episodes of WWF Jakked and in dark matches. He also wrestled dark matches for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and competed for Texas All Star Wrestling, Extreme Texas Wrestling and NWA Southwest. He also toured Japan on numerous occasions and through Gonzalez worked for Ring of Honor in 2003. In 2001, Hernandez began wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance. At the October 13, 2001 NWA Anniversary Show in St. Petersburg, Florida he defeated Kevin Northcutt to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for over a year before losing to Ricky Murdock on January 11, 2003 in Greenville, Missouri. Hernandez defeated Jorge Estrada for the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship on May 3, 2003 in Cornelia, Georgia. On September 28, 2003 in Hawaii, he lost the title to J.T. Wolfen. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Elite Guard (2003–2004) Hernandez debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on the November 22, 2003 episode of TNA Xplosion, losing to Shane Douglas. He returned to TNA on June 16, 2004 as one-third of "The Elite Guard", a trio of mercenaries working for Jeff Jarrett after his first King of the Mountain match victory. The Elite Guard (Hernandez, Chad Collyer and Onyx) feuded with the 3Live Kru over the next two months. On July 14, 2004, Jarrett, The Elite Guard and Ken Shamrock lost to Dusty Rhodes, Larry Zbyszko and the 3Live Kru in a ten man tag team bout. The Elite Guard remained with TNA until September 2004, when all three wrestlers were released. Latin American Xchange (2006–2008) Upon his departure from TNA, Hernandez worked on the Texas independent circuit throughout 2005. In March 2006, he signed a new contract with TNA. He returned on the March 31, 2006 episode of TNA Xplosion as the newest member of the heel stable The Latin American Xchange (LAX), teaming with Homicide and being managed by Konnan. On the August 24, 2006 episode of TNA Impact!, Hernandez and Homicide defeated A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels in a Border Brawl for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Styles and Daniels regained the titles from Hernandez and Homicide in an Ultimate X match on September 24, 2006 at No Surrender, but Hernandez and Homicide won the titles back on October 22, 2006 at Bound for Glory inside the Six Sides of Steel. After winning the titles back, they engaged in a feud with America's Most Wanted, defeating them in a match at Genesis and then a flag match at Turning Point. Their next rivalry involved Team 3D, and, after winning three consecutive matches at Final Resolution (by disqualification), Against All Odds (in a Little Italy Street fight) and Destination X (in a Ghetto Brawl), lost the NWA tag-team championships to Team 3D at Lockdown in an Electrified Cage match, when Homicide was pinned. When Konnan left TNA in the summer of 2007, both Hernandez and Homicide turned face and at Bound for Glory defeated Senshi and Elix Skipper of Triple X in an Ultimate X match to get back in the tag team title picture. They would receive their shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship on the November 1 edition of Impact!, but were defeated by the defending champions A.J. Styles and Tomko. In 2008 LAX got another title shot by beating The Rock 'n Rave Infection and The Motor City Machineguns at Destination X and cashed it in in a three-way match on the April 17 edition of Impact! against the Tag Team Champions A.J. Styles and Tomko and the team that ended up winning the match, Eric Young/Super Eric and Kaz. The controversial ending of this match led to the titles being vacated and being put up for grabs in a tournament. At Sacrifice, LAX, with their new manager Hector Guerrero in their corner, won the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship, after defeating Team 3D in the finals of the "Deuces Wild Tournament". LAX lost the titles at Hard Justice to Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode). Going solo (2009) At the second Final Resolution pay-per-view of 2008 both Hernandez and Homicide each captured a briefcase from the "Feast or Fired" match which contained a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for Hernandez and a shot at the TNA X Division Championship for Homicide. On a January 15 episode of TNA Impact, Hernandez cashed in his "Feast or Fired" World Title shot against Sting, and won by disqualification when The Main Event Mafia interfered, which meant that he did not win the title. However, executive shareholder Mick Foley ruled that because of the interference Hernandez would receive another TNA Title Shot in the future. On the April 30, episode of Impact!, Hernandez was attacked by the debuting The British Invasion faction of Brutus Magnus, Doug Williams and Rob Terry, to allow him time off to recover from a legitimate neck surgery. On the July 23 episode of Impact! Hernandez returned to aid Homicide, who was being attacked by Samoa Joe and Taz. A week later, on July 30, he defeated Joe in his return match with a top rope splash. At Hard Justice Hernandez regained his "Feast or Fired" briefcase from the British Invasion by defeating Rob Terry in nine seconds. On the September 10 edition of Impact!, Homicide turned heel by betraying Hernandez and joining World Elite, thus signaling the official end of the Latin American Xchange. At No Surrender Hernandez cashed in his "Feast or Fired" briefcase, but was unable to win the World Heavyweight Championship in the 5-way main event match after World Elite leader Eric Young interfered and took him out of the match. At Bound for Glory, Hernandez was unsuccessful in capturing the TNA Legends Championship in a three-way match, involving champion Kevin Nash and Eric Young, after Young turned on Nash and captured the title. Teaming and feuding with Matt Morgan (2009–2010) Since then Hernandez teamed up with Matt Morgan and D'Angelo Dinero and moved on to feuding with Rhino and Team 3D, who accused TNA of favoring the younger talent of the company. At Turning Point Rhino and Team 3D defeated Morgan, Hernandez and Dinero in a street fight. At Final Resolution Morgan, Hernandez, Dinero and Suicide defeated Neal, Team 3D and Rhino in an eight-man elimination tag team match. On the January 4, 2010, live, three hour, Monday night edition of Impact! Hernandez and Morgan defeated Dr. Stevie and Raven to become the number one contenders to the TNA World Tag Team Champions British Invasion. At Genesis Hernandez and Morgan defeated the British Invasion to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. At Against All Odds as part of the 8 Card Stud Tournament Hernandez and Morgan were forced to face each other in the first round. Morgan defeated Hernandez by taking advantage of his injured shoulder and pinning him, while grabbing a hold of his trunks. At Destination X Hernandez and Morgan retained the Tag Team Titles in a match against Beer Money despite plenty of miscommunication between the two champions. After the match Morgan nailed Hernandez with the Carbon Footprint. The following day on Impact! Morgan defeated Hernandez via referee stoppage after sandwiching his head between his boot and the ring post. After the match Homicide came out to check on his former partner, who was being helped by medics. TNA later reported on Hernandez's kayfabe injuries, claiming that he had suffered a herniated disc and cervical damage to his neck in the assault and will be out of action indefinitely. The neck injury storyline was created so Hernandez could work in Mexico for three months. With Hernandez scheduled to miss months of action, Morgan declared himself the sole World Tag Team Champion on the April 5 edition of Impact! and TNA went along with this and no longer recognized Hernandez as a champion. Hernandez's return to TNA was hinted at on the June 3 edition of Impact!, when Matt Morgan was distracted by somebody in the crowd which cost him a four-way match with Samoa Joe, Sting and the winner of the match, TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam. The camera's immediately showed what was distracting Morgan, but nobody could clearly see who it was, although Taz and Mike Tenay believed it to be Hernandez. The following week, Hernandez made his official return by attacking Morgan, leading to a match between the two at Slammiversary VIII. The match at Slammiversary VIII ended in Hernandez being disqualified for assaulting the referee, when he was being reprimanded for going too violently after Morgan. The following month at Victory Road Hernandez defeated Morgan in a Steel Cage match to end the feud. In November it was reported that Hernandez had turned down TNA's request for him to return to the promotion from his stint in Mexico. Mexican America (2011–2012) Hernandez returned to TNA from his stint in Mexico at the February 1, 2011, tapings of the February 10 episode of Impact!. He made his return as a heel, when he was hired by Eric Bischoff to "hurt a few people" for his Immortal stable. Hernandez then re–ignited his feud with the now–face Matt Morgan by costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a match against Mr. Anderson. On February 13 at Against All Odds Hernandez explained the change in his attitude by claiming that in the United States he was treated like a second class citizen, while in Mexico he was treated like a star. On the following episode of Impact!, Hernandez aligned himself with Sarita and Rosita. On the March 3 episode of Impact! Hernandez was defeated by Morgan via disqualification. On March 13 at Victory Road, Hernandez defeated Morgan in a First Blood match, after using fake blood on him, following a run–in from a planted fan. On the following episode of Impact!, the alliance of Hernandez, Sarita and Rosita was named Mexican America. The three of them were then defeated in a six person street fight by Morgan, Angelina Love and Winter. After the match, the "fan", who had interfered in the match at Victory Road, once again entered the ring and attacked Morgan. On the March 24 episode of Impact!, he was officially presented as the newest member of Mexican America and named Anarquia. On April 17 at Lockdown, Morgan defeated Hernandez in a steel cage match to win the feud. After defeating Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore) at Sacrifice and the team of Alex Shelley and TNA World Tag Team Champion James Storm on the June 9 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia began demanding a tag team title shot, claiming that they were held back because of their race. On the July 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia defeated The British Invasion (Douglas Williams and Magnus), with help from Rosita, to become the number one contenders to the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Hernandez and Anarquia received their shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship on August 7 at Hardcore Justice, but were defeated by the defending champions, Beer Money, Inc. Two days later, at the tapings of the August 18 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a rematch, following interference from the "Mexican Heavyweight Champion" Jeff Jarrett, to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. On September 11 at No Surrender, Hernandez and Anarquia successfully defended the title against D'Angelo Dinero and Devon, following interference from Rosita and Sarita. Later that month, Mexican America began feuding with Ink Inc., stemming from their match at Sacrifice in May, where Hernandez had legitimately injured Jesse Neal. On October 16, during the Bound for Glory Preshow, Mexican America successfully defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Ink Inc. The following month at Turning Point, Anarquia, Hernandez and Sarita defeated Ink Inc.'s Jesse Neal, Shannon Moore and Toxxin in a six person tag team match to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Crimson and Matt Morgan. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Arnaquia failed to regain the title in a rematch. After spending three months off television, Hernandez returned on the March 22, 2012, episode of Impact Wrestling, when he and Anarquia unsuccessfully challenged Magnus and Samoa Joe for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. In April, Anarquia was released from his TNA contract, thus ending his partnership with Hernandez. Asistencia Asesoría y Administración Debut (2006) Hernandez made his debut for Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) on August 12, 2006, at Guerra de Titanes, appearing as a member of the rudo (heel) stable La Legión Extranjera (The Foreign Legion) in a six man tag team match, where he, Elix Skipper and Headhunter A were defeated by El Alebrije, La Parka and Octagón via disqualification. Return; La Legión Extranjera (2010–present) In early 2010 TNA restarted their working relationship with AAA in order to send Hernandez to the company for an extended stay to gain exposure in front of the Mexican audience and make him a bigger star. Hernandez returned to the company on March 12, 2010, at Rey de Reyes, entering the Rey de Reyes tournament as a surprise competitor and defeating El Elegido, Crazy Boy and Kenzo Suzuki in the semifinal four-way elimination match to make his way to the finals. Later in the night Hernandez turned rudo and once again aligned himself with La Legión Extranjera by attacking Cibernético after his match with Legión leader Konnan. In the Rey de Reyes final three-way elimination match Hernandez was the first man eliminated at the hands of Marco Corleone. Despite his elimination, Hernandez stayed at ringside and in the end cost Corleone the match against Legión member Chessman. Hernandez then began portraying an anti-Mexican character, refusing to speak or even acknowledge he could understand Spanish and doing his interviews through an interpreter. On June 6 at TripleMania XVIII Hernandez and fellow Legión members Alex Koslov and Chessman represented referee Hijo del Tirantes in a six man tag team steel cage match, where they defeated Heavy Metal, Octagón and Pimpinela Escarlata, representing referee Pierro, with the hair of the referees on the line. On August 26 Hernandez took part in a major angle, when he, Alex Koslov and Decnnis interrupted a Smashing Pumpkins concert for MTV World Stage. Hernandez went to Border Toss lead singer Billy Corgan, before being stopped and driven away by La Parka, El Mesías and Extreme Tiger.On October 1 in the main event of Héroes Inmortales IV, Hernandez represented La Sociedad in an eight man elimination steel cage match, where he, El Zorro, Electroshock and L.A. Park were defeated by AAA representatives Dark Cuervo, Dark Ozz, Heavy Metal and La Parka. In November, while El Zorro moved on to battling for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship, Hernandez formed a new tag team with La Legión Extranjera's newest member, Puerto Rican El Ilegal. On December 5 at Guerra de Titanes Hernandez and El Ilegal faced Los Maniacos (Silver King and Último Gladiador) and La Hermandad 187 (Nicho el Millonario and Joe Lider) in a ladder match for the AAA World Tag Team Championship, but were unable to capture the title. Hernandez finished his run with AAA on December 21, 2010. Latino Wrestling Entertainment In February 2012, Hernandez and Andre Alvarez announced they were starting a new promotion named Latino Wrestling Entertainment (LWE) in Houston, Texas. The promotion will hold its first event in late March. River City Wrestling (Present) Hernandez began work with the Texas wrestling promotion River City Wrestling as both an in-ring competitor as well as its head trainer for its RCW Gym. Personal life Hernandez has a daughter named Liz from a previous marriage. She is a powerlifter at Refugio High School who won the silver medal in Class 2A at 181 pounds at the 2009 Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association and a gold medal in the same category at the 2010 Texas High School Women's Powerlifting Association. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Border Toss'' (TNA) / Mega Bomb (independent circuit) (Throwing crucifix powerbomb) **Diving splash **Inverted sitout side powerslam **Scoop lift sitout powerbomb *'Signature moves' **Biel throw by using a shirt or a flag wrapped around the opponent's neck **''Big Man Dive'' (Over the top rope suicide dive) **Cobra clutch **''Crackerjack'' (Overhead choke suplex) **Overhead gutwrench backbreaker drop **Delayed vertical suplex **Northern lights suplex, sometimes from the top rope **Multiple powerbomb variations ***Inverted ***One shoulder ***Sitout ***Spinning **Running corner bodypress **Running shoulder block **Samoan driver **Slingshot shoulder block **Spinning powerbomb **Standing thrust spinebuster *'Tag Teams/Stables **Mexican America *'Managers' **Konnan **JBL **Salinas **Hector Guerrero **Sarita **Rosita *'Nicknames''' **"The Texas Sandstorm" **"The Tex-Mex T-Rex" **'"The Mexican Superman"' **'"SuperMex"' *'Entrance themes' **"Ruff Ryders' Anthem" by DMX (ROH; 2003) **"Never Scared" by Bone Crusher (ROH; 2003) **'"Dawgz"' by Konnan (TNA; 2006–2007 / AAA; 2010–present) **"To Live and Die In LAX" by Dale Oliver and Serg Salinas (TNA; 2007–2009) **'"Te Gusta O No!!"' by Dale Oliver (TNA; 2009–2011) **'"5150"' by F.I.L.T.H.E.E. / Brickman Raw (TNA; 2011–present) Championships and accomplishments *'Extreme Texas Wrestling' **ETW Texas Title (1 time) *'Full Effect Wrestling' **FEW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'International Wrestling Association' **IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Homicide *'Jersey All Pro Wrestling' **JAPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Homicide *'NWA Florida' **NWA National Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'NWA Southwest' **NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 times) *'NWA Wildside' **NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **NWA Wildside Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'66' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009 *'River City Wrestling' **RCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Texas All Star Wrestling' **TASW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **TASW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ministuff **TASW Hardcore Championship (1 time) *'Texas Wrestling Entertainment' **TWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Total Nonstop Action Wrestling' **NWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Homicide **TNA World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Homicide (1), Matt Morgan (1), Anarquia (1) and Chavo Guerrero, Jr. (2) **Deuces Wild Tournament (2008) – with Homicide **Match of the Year award (2006) *'XCW Wrestling' **XCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **XCW TNT Championship (1 time) External links *TNA profile *RiverCityWrestling profile *Bodyslamming.com profile *Cagematch.net profile *Online World of Wrestling profile *Interview with Hernandez from TNA Wrestling on The Dropkick Radio Wrestling Show conducted in early May 2009 discussing his time in TNA and more! *Tha O Show Episode 168 Hernandez Interview Category:1973 births Category:American wrestlers Category:Puerto Rican wrestlers Category:Asistencia Asesoría y Administración alumni Category:Combat Zone Wrestling alumni Category:IWA Mid-South alumni Category:IWA Puerto Rico alumni Category:Jersey All Pro Wrestling alumni Category:National Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:NWA Anarchy alumni Category:NWA Wildside alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:Ring of Honor alumni Category:River City Wrestling alumni Category:Southwest Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling current roster Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:Xtreme Championship Wrestling alumni Category:1996 debuts Category:TNA World Tag Team Champions Category:Texas wrestlers Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni